January 2006

January 31, 2006

I have posted a picture of this wall before but not for SPT. It is just as you walk in my front door and is my personal history in photographs. There is a picture of me as a baby in my mother's arms, pictures of both children at various stages right up to Alyssa's graduation picture. There are pictures of my granny and my great grandmother. Mitch's mom and his grandfather. This is a collection of my favorite photographs. I feel nostalgic looking at these pictures. They can evoke happiness or tears depending on my state of mind. The faces of all the people who have had the most influence in my life can be found here.

One more post card arrived today. This one is from rock paper scissors. It is really cute and has a lot going on. On the front is a frisky little dog (he is a thumb- ink print) a little dog bone tag that says happy new year and a Chinese symbol stamp that is meant to bring good fortune to the recipient. I'll take that! On the address side is a picture of a drawing of a little girl putting on her shoes and a little dog helping her. hatu is stamped in the bottom corner and there is a little dog bowl with the name Ruby on it. Another little work of art delivered right to my mailbox!

If that wasn't enough to make me smile today I went to the fabric store to buy the fabric for my "Granny Quilt". I didn't take a picture before taking it to my aunt, but I bought a print in a soft lilac background with roses and a solid piece in a tea stain color. My aunt didn't like the solid piece but I told her to trust me. She likes the brighter more bold colors. I wanted something soft, almost aged looking. I'll post pictures when she gets the top together. While at the fabric store I couldn't resist these. I am so weak!

Notice a trend here? I guess I am diggin some paisley. I also went to hobby lobby. That place overwhelms me. I always feel like I can't possibly look at everything. If I go down this isle I am sure to miss something on that isle and who has time to go down all those isles? I did find the clearance isle. I have an internal homing device for a clearance isle and I was once again weak!

I had almost given up on the idea of aqua in my kitchen but look how good these plates look with this fabric. I bought it for purses but I may have to go get more. It looks like it was made to go with these clearance plates ($3.30 each) and who am I to try to keep them apart? Hey I'll use a coupon and if you get it on sale it can't be used in the "you have too much fabric already" argument, can it? I didn't think so. I know I can count on you crafty girls to back me up. OK enough time spent blogging. I need to spend some time actually doing. Reading Rebecca's blog today made me feel like such an under achiever.

January 30, 2006

A little sneak peak! This is one of 18 squares my granny cross stitched before she died. Her sister, my great aunt Mary is going to make 2 quilts using the squares. One for me and one for my sister. I am going to buy fabric tomorrow to use in the quilt. I am thinking a subtle floral print with pale soft pinks and greens. I am so excited to be able to participate in the making of this very special quilt!

Two more little surprises were in my mail box today!!

The one on top is from Emma at Wonder in a Walnut and the bottom one is from Mary at Cherry Tomato. I love seeing the different creative interpretations that came from the same theme. I wanted to participate in this swap to challenge myself. I didn't really think about the fact that I would be receiving 10 little works of are in my own mail box. How cool is that? Thank you Emma, Mary and Shanna (look here for her Shanna's card). So far one of mine has reached its destination. Thanks Gina for the email and the kind words!

January 28, 2006

Tanya over at Crafty Girls wanted to see a picture of the Amy Butler fabric I used in the postcards. I bought it a couple of months ago from j caroline creative. If you have never been to that site I recommend it. Even if you don't buy anything check out the "how to" section. Lots of neat stuff. I think the Chocolate Mint and the last two pictured came from JCC and the others came from an eBay store called Fabric Connection. I bought a yard of several different prints. I don't remember the name of each of them but they are all very pretty and you can see that I am really loving the pink/brown and blue/brown combination. Some of the pieces came with a free yard of fabric, and you know that gets my attention every time!

The first one is the print I used in the postcards. It is called chocolate mint, yummy! The next one is Covington Tile in pink brown and mint, Stripey Bouquet blue? (not sure about that one) Next is Parrot Tulip in cocoa, Awning Stripe, Stripey Bouquet in pink and brown, Chelsea Rose. The next two are border prints. Not sure of the name and the last one is Dew Drops in brown and pink. While I am giving away secrets and favorite places to shop check out crafters vision. This site also has project section with patterns and such and is a good source for ribbon as is Bella Joys.

Hope every one is having a good weekend. I need to get busy and do some house work and sewing! It is a beautiful day, warm and sunny. Maybe I'll use my clothesline today. If you are reading this sweet little girl of mine, I am missing you!! Hope you are having a good weekend! My little bean picker grew up too fast!

January 27, 2006

Lately I have been so happy reading all the nice comments left on my blog. Thank you everyone who has taken the time to comment. I feel like I have lots of new friends. Kelli is getting jealous. I have always told her she is the only one.

Of course my new sewing machine makes me happy and my aunt who gave it to me. I mentioned it yesterday but it surely warrants another mention.

Completed postcards make me deliriously happy. And those of you who have been reading this week are probably happy with that as well. I mean really, how much can one girl whine? Don't ask my husband that question. He will say I can whine a lot. But it wouldn't be true!

I always mention my family. I am grateful for my family. Although today I am not so happy with my teen aged son. Anyone know any good military schools?

Amy butler fabric makes me happy. I used some aqua and brown Amy Butler fabric called chocolate mint on some of the postcards I made and I just loved working with it and looking at it.

Reading blogs makes me happy. Some of them make me laugh out loud and some have made me cry. Many make me wish I were as talented and creative as folks like Manda she does beautiful quilting or Michelle who writes the most beautiful, honest heartfelt poetry. I love to visit turkey feathers she is such a talented seamstress. Becki like me loves to decorate her house and she is really good at sewing clothes. Of course there is always something pretty to look at when I visit Posie gets Cozy and I feel so uncultured after reading yarnstorm. I may spend too much time reading blogs but hey, I am learning not waisting time.

I love getting postcards! My husband just brought the mail in and my first postcard from Shanna. It is so cute. It has a little brown dog eating noodles out of a Chinese take out box and the fortune coming out of the fortune cookie is her blog address. How exciting. Now I need to get mine in the mail!

January 26, 2006

I should have saved this for Gratitude Friday but hey, it's only an hour away. Look at what Santa brought to my house today.

A beautiful new (new to me) Bernina embroidery machine! My aunt Pat who lives in Pennsylvania hopped in her little Miata and drove down to North Carolina where I live to bring me this thing of beauty. I don't know how I got so lucky! Aunt Pat bought herself a new embroidery machine and she is giving me her old one. It is so much smarter than I am it will take me a while to learn how to use her. I am really going to need a class! You program a greeting into the machine so that when you turn it on it greets you. Here is the greeting I programed in.

So I am grateful for my Aunt Pat and the wonderful gift she gave me!

In post card news Count 'em!!!! 10 baby! I am finished!

I need to get envelopes because I don't think the mail man will deliver these little purses!

Kelli sent me a link today to a site where you upload a picture of yourself and the site tells you which celebrity you most resemble. It gives you a percentage. I thought it would be fun to try. I can't think of a celebrity I look like. So I set up the timer on the camera and took one picture smiling and one not. I am not sharing those photos with you. I didn't have on a bit of makeup and though I wear very little makeup, a little lipstick and mascara does me a world of good! Anyway I uploaded the pictures and the first one (not smiling) came back as 64% Renee Zelwiger. I look nothing like Renee Zelwiger. The next closest match was Jillian Anderson. I don't think I look like her either. The next one was a shocker. Steve Martin. Steve Martin? What are they looking at? Next I did the smiling one. It gave me Catherine Deneuve, 61% and Robert De Niro 54%. I don't know what to think about that. What part of me looks like Steve Martin or Robert De Niro? The worst one was Ariel Sharon 41%. So what do you think? Steve Martin, Robert DeNiro, Ariel Sharon or Renee Zelwiger?

January 25, 2006

Casey is 16 today. Look at that sweet little baby. How did he grow up so fast?

Here he is shaving for the first time. (I'm not sure what he was shaving but he assured me he needed to shave)

Happy Birthday Casey!

Postcard Update. I am never signing up for another postcard swap again! This is supposed to be a fun exercise. A way to interact with other crafters from all around the world. A way to be creative and have fun. I want to have fun, really I do. But I am driving myself insane over these postcards. I have now spent 3 days on these guys and I do not want to send them out. Today I looked at the blogs of ladies I will be sending postcards to. They are all so talented and artistic and do such nice work. I feel like these postcards look sloppy and despite all my best efforts something has gone wrong with each of them. I decided this morning to scrap them all and start over. Here is the first one. I am going to send them in envelopes instead of worrying about addressing the backside. I had originally wanted to somehow incorporate a purse into my design since I make purses but I couldn't come up with a way to include Happy New Year, a dog and a purse. This morning I came up with this.

Now I just have to make 9 more and get on with my life. The life I used to know before I signed up for a fun little postcard swap. Am I as crazy as I feel or does any one else feel the same stress at the idea of sending something you've made to another crafter. I just so often feel like my skills are lacking. Some of these folks are professional illustrators for goodness sake. I am way out of my league. I have made enough purses now that I feel good about the product I send out when I am finished with it. So I decided to use some of my purse skills and incorporate them into the making of the postcard. I should have just made tiny little purses. Hey- that is an idea. I have until Saturday! I hope to have something to post about besides postcards tomorrow. Thanks to all the folks who have visited my blog and left such nice comments. And to those of you who are visiting and haven't said hello. Say hello!

January 24, 2006

I have completed 5 of the 10 postcards and no two are alike! Two are similar but not identical. The technique was different for each of these guys. I linked the tutorials I found in yesterdays post. They were both very helpful but I have made several changes along the way to try to come up with something that works for me. Sad to say I am still not there. Each one has something I don't like about it. Here are some close ups at the request of Molly. (Not because I think they are worthy of close ups.)

This one I made yesterday. I embroidered the dog and happy new year on muslin using my embroidery machine. Then I sewed on the ribbon. Next I applied Heat N Bond to both sides of a 4 x 6 piece of card stock to give it stability. Cut a second piece of muslin 4 x 6. Iron the muslin pieces to the card stock and finish the edges with a satin stitch. (If you read Debbie's tutorial she doesn't use Heat N Bond- calls it evil. She speaks the truth. It gums up your needle and causes your thread to break. Overall I was pretty pleased with this one but like I said my penmanship isn't that great and to top it off now I have to write on muslin. I bet the pen will run or worse yet bleed through. It would be much better if I didn't put the muslin on the backside and just printed the address on the card stock So my second one was this one. (Proof reading this I realized I should clarify "pretty pleased" in southern speak means not completely pleased yet)

Really the only change with the construction of this one was not using the muslin on the side the address will be printed on. But I still have to address it by hand. I should have done that on the computer before the assembly. So that was what I did next. Address the rest of the cards using the computer. Then I was very tired and quit for the night. This morning I thought things would go fast since I had the basic idea down and had the cards addressed. Wishful thinking. So here is the first one I made today.

The problem with it was the needle kept gumming up from the heat n bond and I had to re thread the machine about 10 times when I was doing the satin stitch at the end. Otherwise it was OK. The ric-rac was added as an after thought to cover up some puckering. I tried gluing it down because if I sew it down it will show up on the back but the glue isn't sticking so far. I will probably have to redo this one. Great! So for the next one instead of doing the satin stitch to finish the edges I decided to fuse ribbon to the edges. It worked OK but I still like the look of the stitching around the edges better.

The last two I made today used the same fabric. I made the first one and used the ribbon but like I said, didn't like the look as much. So I made another one similar and cut the heat n bond smaller than the card so that I wouldn't be doing the stitching through the glue. I was sure this time I had it worked out. I was wrong. This time the card stock pulled away from the edge of the stitching. So I had to add the ribbon to secure the edges anyway. So tomorrow I start again. What were the lessons learned?

Print the address on the card first. Although I have since addressed the one with muslin using a sharpie and it looks OK so I may go back to the fabric on both sides. That will be the remedy to lesson #3

Zig Zagging causes card stock to tear (That seems like a no brainer when I think about it but It didn't do it with card #2)

I hope my lessons learned will keep you from making the same mistakes. I'll try to do the other 5 tomorrow and let you know how it goes. (That is if anyone happens to read this and wants to make postcards of their own) That is quite presumptive of me isn't it?

No Self Portrait Tuesday for today. I am knee deep in post cards and don't have time. I think my post on Sunday was self revealing enough for one week anyway. Thanks everyone for the encouraging comments on that post. It means a lot!

January 23, 2006

I signed up for a postcard swap over at my little mochi. I have never participated in a postcard swap. I am new to this blog world remember? But it sounds like so much fun. You send 10 postcards to 10 people and 10 people send postcards to you. People you have never met. People from all over the world. I love to get mail. Well I love to get some mail. Most of my mail is bills and I don't like getting that mail. But I would love to get a pretty postcard in the mail. Yes, sign me up! Alrighty then. Oh you mean I have to make 10 postcards? From scratch? Do you have directions? Oh I have to come up with a plan myself. Just make it 4 x 6, say Happy New Year and include a dog since this is the year of the dog. OK, I guess I can come up with something. So off I go to shop for my supplies. What do I need? I don't know what I need. I don't have a clue what I am going to do. I have never made a postcard! Well, surely they will have a kit. One of those nifty kits that has easy to follow instructions and all the materials you need. Right? No they don't have a kit. So there I am roaming the isles at JoAnn and Michael's aimlessly hoping inspiration will jump off the shelf and into my cart and the postcard will then magically come together and be the most beautiful postcard ever made in the history of the postcard swap. Right. Aimlessly I wander. Up one isle and down another. Well I know I need card stock. Get card stock. How about rubber stamps. They probably have a nifty dog stamp and some letters I can stamp out Happy New Year. Well, yes they do. They have lots and lots of rubber stamps. Only I need a small loan to pay for them. My goodness, some of those babies were like $20.00 for one stamp. Please? That would be a little more of an investment than I want to put into making these postcards. And don't even get me started on the scrap booking supplies. Many, many scrap booking supplies. I liken this hobby to a little recreational crack cocaine. ( Sorry to offend you scrapbookers) Come on! Why would you start something you know is going to suck you in and cause you to start selling off your possessions to support your habit? So I have some card stock and some doggie stickers. Well that will be a great postcard. I may as well just get my 5 year old niece to do them for me. Here put some stickers on this card and I'll address and send them out. I feel like such a fraud. Creative little daisy my behind. There is no creativity in this little daisy when it comes to planning this postcard thing. I threw some felt in the cart with the card stock and the doggie stickers. Surely I can do something with felt. I see so many nice embellishments people do with felt. So just buy some felt and get outta here. It is January 23rd and the 10 postcards have to be sent out by the 28th. I have to get started! OK where to begin? Well, it has to say Happy New Year. Great! My penmanship isn't that great. It has to have a dog. I can't draw a dog. Wait! I have a handy dandy sewing machine that will write whatever I tell it to and it draws really great pictures. Yahoo! I have an idea. That is a start. I will embroider on some fabric. I am good at that. I'll put some fabric on it too. Heck, I may even figure out a way to get some spray paint into this project. I am now armed with a general idea but would like some more inspiration for how to put it all together. So I googled fabric postcard and found this great article from Clotildes Sewing Savy. They are called heartfelt greetings and are postcards made of fabric. They are beautiful and they are just what I had in mind, only these appear to be Valentine's cards and mine will be a New Years card with a dog on it. So I typed out Happy New Year in a font I liked and adjusted it to the size for my card and found an image of a dog at Ann the Gran and let my bernina girl go to work. I embellished it with some ribbon and fused it onto a piece of card stock and fused a plain piece of muslin to the backside. I just love to fuse! I went around the whole thing with a satin stitch using red thread and there you have it. (Picture above) Don't let Maggie try to tell you she did it. She always comes along at the end and tries to take credit! It was pretty easy and fun to do. With me the planning is the longest part. I am so indecisive. I have 9 more to go. The next one is going to have some pink and I think more fabric instead of the ribbon. Here is another great tutorial found on Red Shoe Ramblings by Debbie Richardson. I loved reading it. It was as entertaining as it was informative. Check it out. Well I need to make 9 more postcards. Hey, Maggie said to tell everyone to remember to stop and smell the flowers today. Even if they are on the kitchen counter and you know you are not supposed to be on the kitchen counter!

January 22, 2006

Hope. That was the topic of the sermon at church today. The pastor read several passages of scripture referencing hope. I was glad he was speaking on something other than the government. He has been on that kick for a while and though I agree with most of what he has to say, he seemed stuck in a rut. So hope had my attention. Still I am looking around a bit. Thinking about what I may do after church, letting my mind wander slightly but not completely zoning off. Then he said something about 38 years. "38 years is a long time to be sick" If you have read this post you know that I am 37 years old and my mother died when she was 38 years old. 38 years is significant to me. He was talking about the parable where Jesus healed a man who had been sick for 38 years. The story can be found in John 5: 1-15. Anyway the pastor said the man had to want to be healed. It was his hope and his belief that he would be healed that brought about his healing. The pastor said 38 years is a long time to be sick. He went on to talk about how we have to have hope. We have to take the hope that Jesus offers us. If we believe we are going to stay sick then we probably are. I think this is true regardless of your religious beliefs. I am a firm believer in faith, in theory, but do I actually live with that faith. The kind of faith that also allows you to have hope? I don't think so. I think I have spent most of my life, at least my adult life believing that I was born with this lung disease that took my mother's life at 38 years and my fate would be likewise. I don't talk about it. I don't say it aloud, but it is there. Always there. It is there when I go to sleep. It is there when I wake up. It is there when I get out of breath taking a shower. It is always there. The pastor also spoke of the parable where the man gave 3 of his servants talents (a precious metal such as silver or gold) and expected that they would manage their talents wisely and increase them. He went away and when he returned to ask what they had done with them the first two had doubled their talents. The third man told him he buried his talent for fear of what the man would do to him if he did not have it when he returned. This made the master angry and he took the one talent away. I feel sort of like the man with one talent. And my talent in this case is hope. I don't fell a sence of hoplessness, but do I fell hopeful or simply resigned. I want to live a long life but what am I doing to make the most of everyday now? I have been living quietly and keeping my hope buried. Just being quiet so as not to test fate. Things are going along smoothly so why rock the boat. Thinking if I ask God for more I may actually come away with less. I don't know if this will make sense to anyone. I am really just writing this to get it out of my head and to try to make sense of it myself. I have never spoken very much of my illness ( that seems odd even typing it) I have never said that "my illness" and I don't like saying it now, so I won't say it again. Anyway it is just something that is. I mean I talk about going to the Dr. or about not feeling good you know. Small talk stuff. But I don't even like to tell my family ( my sister and my aunt) when I am sick. They worry too much and hover and I don't like the attention. Everyone who really knows me knows I have this disease. By the way, the reason I don't call it by a name is because it doesn't have one. How do you like that? What is known is that it is genetic. My mother, myself, my son, my sister and 3 of her 4 children all have this whatevertheheckitis disease. We have all been tested poked prodded x rayed scoped and scraped. They certainly know what we don't have. It is likely some mutated form of cystic fibrosis. My pulmonologists have told me that since the symptoms are very much like CF all they know to do is to treat me they way they treat a CF patient. Oh I feel ridiculous going into all of this but I am getting to the point or at least trying. Hope. That is what I have been lacking. I have been going on the assumption that my fate was already written. I had no control. What I took away from that sermon is that it is up to me to have hope. To have the faith to ask God to make me better. Am I afraid of being let down? Yes. I know that is a big part of it. I am afraid of letting myself ask for somethig that deep inside I feel I won't receive. I believe in God but do I believe he wants to make me better? I don't know. I do know that what ever my fate it is all part of His plan and all things happen for a reason. I don't ask folks to pray for me. Why should they. I have this lung disease and there is nothing going to change that. Don't waste your time or Gods. Well I have to change that thinking if I am going to live. I am not saying I think I can go to the alter and have someone place their hands on me and suddenly I'll have new lungs. By living I mean really living each day. Appreciating all that I do have each and every day and living a quality life and having real hope for what the future may hold. I can't say I walked out of there a different person but I can say a spark was lit that I hope to fan into a fire of hope and faith and belief. I am not ready to ask God for a miracle yet but I know I will never get one if I don't ask. I am ready to ask for your prayers. I know that God works miracles. I am sure of it but do I feel worthy? Why am I writing about such a personal matter in such a public way. I don't know. I know I could never say these words aloud. I wish I could be a more open person. Maybe it is my way of saying 38 years is long enough to be sick and it is time to ask God to make me better. Admit that the unknown is really scary and this control freak is not in control . And maybe making me better doesn't mean healing my lungs. I know it is just time for me to have hope. Hope for whatever it is that God has in store for me. Hope for the future. I just know that for some crazy reason I feel compelled to write this so here it is.

January 21, 2006

I had a really productive day for a change. Besides cutting out 3 purses. Completing one and getting another 1/2 done, I wrote a tutorial cooked dinner. (Steak and mashed potatoes) and made a delicious chocolate cake! I feel so Martha! So un-Autum. I am a little scared. The cake is as yummy as is it pretty!

Have a great weekend! Wish you could drop by and have a piece of cake!